THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 20989, 31 December 1931, Page 3

THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

[By J.B.S.]

Brief contributions on matters with refer enco to the Labour Movement are invited.

SWEATING COMMISSION RECALLED.

The year 1890 marked a turning point towards better conditions of labour for the mass of New Zealand working people. Following the setting up of the Sweating Commission in that year many measures were enacted of which New Zealand could at that time be justly proud. This country became an object lesson to most other parte of the world by reason of the advanced nature of its labour legislation. That great statesman, Richard John Soddon, who was Premier from 1893 till his death in 1906, was the guiding light in the legislative endeavour's which were made to raise the status of the working people’s standards of living. Mr F. W. Rowley, who was Secretary for Labour in New Zealand from 1913 to 1929, has chronicled in an interesting fashion the history of the conditions which prevailed prior to 1890 and the efforts which were made to alter them.

He states that following on the English dock strike a revolt in New Zealand by waterside workers and seamen occurred in 1890; this was known as the maritime strike. At this time the hours of employment of seamen were said to be from fourteen to sixteen per day. There were also many complaints as to the conditions of employment in factories. A “ Sweating Commission ” was therefore set up by the Atkinson Government. The commission comprised:—Allan, Colin, Dunedin; Blair, John Rutherford, Wellington; Cherry, Francis, Auckland; Fisher, David Patrick, Wellington; Fulton, James, M.H.R., Dunedin; Jones, Frederick, M.H.R., Christchurch; Thompson, Thomas, Auckland; Waddell, Rutherford (Rev.), Dunedin; Wright, Fortunatus Evelyn, Christchurch. The report of the commission and the evidence given disclosed that many factories were defective; that the administration of the Act was weak; that sweating existed, some boys and girls being employed for very low wages, and some for no wages at all; and that on account of the introduction of machinery many men had been thrown idle and the factories were being overrun with children. It was stated'that there were employed in factories numbers of boys from ten to twelve years who had passed only the Ist, 2nd, or 3rd standard at school. One witness stated that the wages of women were about 2s 6d per day, that the cost of breakages was deducted, and that the employees were obliged to take work home. The proportion of apprentices was stated to Ido about three apprentices to one journeyman. (In recent years the proportion of apprentices has usually been one apprentice to three or oven fewer journeymen, which fact shows that the number of apprentices in 1890 was at least nine times as great.) Another of the witnesses, a prominent Labour representative at the time, expressed the opinion that it would not bo practicable to reduce the sailors’ hours of fourteen to sixteen per day, nor could he suggest shorter hours for shops. Instances are recollected (Mr Rowley continues) where boys and girls were taken into factory or shop employment without any wages for twelve months, it being understood that the workers would gain valuable tuition during that period and would then receive suitable remuneration. As can be imagined, it frequently happened that at the end of th probationary period the services of the boys and girls were no longer required; they were discharged and others were then taken on in their stead under a similar arrangement. It was even considered that when a boy was employed he placed himself entirely under the control of his employer, ready to begin work at any hour and to continue into the evening as Jong as his services were needed; any engagements that he might have in the evening were to be subordinated to the employers’ interests. In these early days it required some courage on the part of workers to bo pen supporters of the new Government. There was stern opposition to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act and other Labour measures, and even the Land for Settlement scheme was objected to by some of the Opposition Press; they did their best by disparaging criticism to discourage settlors from taking up the blocks of land offered by the Government. The expression of “ Liberal ” views was looked on with much disfavour by employers and the workers were therefore afraid of losing their jobs. That this timidity on their part was evidently recognised by the Government as having some justification is shown by a provision that was included in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act when it was first passed in 1894. This clause permits so few as'seven workers in an indu.,..,v in any centre to form a union and seek an award which, if made by the court in its discretion, might cover tiic whole of the employers and workers in that trade and locality, numbering perhaps a thousand or more. It was even thought necessary, in order further to protect those workers who might desire to take advantage of the Act, to prescribe special penalties against any employer who dismissed a worker because he had represented his union in industrial proceedings or because the worker was entitled to the benefits pf the award obtained. An instance occurred in 1898, when a company dismissed three employees for acting in the manner indicated. The Arbitration Court ordered the reinstatement of the men and the payment of £6B wages lost. He states that with the growth of the Labour movement ; which soon began to press for more legislation for the benefit of the workers, the Liberal Party, under Mr Seddon, became the LiberalLabour Party, and so continued till the Labour section had grown to manhood and to sufficient independence to stand on its own feet and form its own separate party. The “ Sweating Commission ” recommended that a Factories Bill should be introduced providing for registration, sanitation, and minimum working space; that boys,and girls under fourteen years of age should not be employed, and that in any case a fourth standard school certificate and a certificate of fitness should bo required for those of fourteen and fifteen years of age. The maximum hours proposed were forty-eight per week for employees under eighteen years of age. In regard to shops, it was recommended that sanitation provisions and seating accommodation should bo provided. The commission considered that neither the early dosing of shops nor a weekly half-holiday was practicable. It is noteworthy that the commission also recommended a Bill for the purpose of Conciliation and Arbitration in industrial disputes.